This Borrowed Earth: The Rising Forest
A Choral-Orchestral Cycle of Forest, Climate, and Active Hope
2028 Commissioning Consortium Now Forming
This Borrowed Earth: The Rising Forest is an approximately 30-minute choral work for chorus and chamber orchestra, inspired by Ben Rawlence’s book The Treeline.
Rather than treating the northern forest as distant scenery, the work follows a deeper human and ecological journey: from observing a changing world to recognizing that we are already participants within the living systems being transformed.
The piece draws on the shifting treeline, the forests and communities of the circumpolar north, and the elemental forces of wind, rain, earth, and fire. Across six movements, the music moves through wonder, instability, grief, repair, and active hope — asking what it means to live responsibly in a future that is still unfinished.
The Journey
From Observation to Participation
The developing six-movement structure is moving away from regional portraiture and toward an elemental dramatic arc. The current working movement titles are:
I am the Wind
I am the Rain
I am the Earth
I am the Fire
Solastalgia
The Rewilding
The cycle begins with listening: wind moving through trees, across regions, and around the globe. As the work unfolds, the singers move from witnessing the changing world to recognizing their own place within it. The later movements pass through darkness, grief, and implication before turning toward repair, embodied hope, and renewed relationship with the living world.
The work continues to draw inspiration from the tree species and regions explored in The Treeline: Scots pine in Scotland, downy birch in Sápmi and northern Norway, Dahurian larch in Siberia, spruce in Alaska, balsam poplar in Canada, and mountain ash in Greenland. These regions inform the imagination of the work, but the movements are not intended as scenic portraits or attempts to speak on behalf of communities whose experiences are not ours.
The Creative Team
Shantel Sellers
Lyricist
Author of "The Treeline" & Project AdvisorBen Rawlence
Lyricist Shantel Sellers is Anishinaabe, from an Anishinaabe community near Honor, Michigan. Her perspective is central to the work’s developing understanding of relationship, land, kinship, and responsibility. At the same time, the creative team is approaching the communities and cultures discussed in The Treeline with care: Shantel is not from the specific Canadian Anishinaabe community featured in the book, and the work does not presume to speak for any community as a whole. Instead, the piece seeks to honor a relational understanding of the living world while remaining clear about the artists’ own positions.
ComposerMichael Bussewitz-Quarm
The Premiere Network
This Borrowed Earth: The Rising Forest is being created through a national commissioning consortium of choirs presenting the work during the 2028 premiere season.
World Premiere / Anchor Commissioning Choir
VocalEssence Chorus and Singers Of This Age — G. Phillip Shoultz, III, Associate Artistic Director
Commissioning Choir / Texas Premiere
The Woodlands Chorale — Mark Marotto, Artistic Director
Additional choirs are now being invited to join the premiere network and bring This Borrowed Earth: The Rising Forestto their own communities through state, regional, and local premieres during the 2028 premiere season.
Commissioning Consortium — Now Forming
A Natural Fit for Earth Day 2028
Following the planned world premiere in March 2028, consortium performances will begin in April—offering ensembles a timely opportunity to build a concert around Earth Day, climate, community, and our relationship with the living world. (Earth Day 2028 is Saturday, April 22)
Consortium Fee: $2,000
Initial perusal materials available: January 2027
Delivery of Score: November 2027
Primary Consortium Premiere Season: April–June 2028
Extended Consortium Performance Period: July–December 2028
Length: 30 minutes
Instrumentation Options:
Chorus + 20-player chamber orchestra
Chorus + chamber quartet (piano, percussion, cello, and obbligato instrument)
Performance Timing
The primary consortium premiere season will take place from April through June 2028, with Earth Day programming particularly encouraged. Ensembles whose concert schedules do not permit a spring performance may present the work between July and December 2028.
Following the primary premiere season, the work is expected to become available for general publication and sale beginning in summer 2028. Ensembles performing later in 2028 will retain full recognition and benefits as original commissioning consortium members.
Commissioning Members Receive
Early access to perusal materials and the completed score
Priority access to perform the work during its 2028 consortium premiere year
Recognition as an original commissioning consortium member, regardless of whether the ensemble performs during the spring or fall of 2028
An optional Zoom session with the composer and/or creative team
Behind-the-scenes development materials, interviews, and project updates
The opportunity to host a composer and/or lyricist residency or in-person choir session, subject to availability and additional fees
Connection with a national—and growing international—community of participating choirs
Limited to approximately 25 US-based core commissioning partnerships. (A commissioning partnership may consist of a single ensemble or two organizations collaborating on a local performance.)
State-premiere recognition is determined by the location of the performance, not by the home states of the participating organizations.
Consortium members may be eligible for state- or regional-premiere recognition, depending on performance location and scheduling.
The core consortium will be limited to approximately 25 commissioning partnerships. A partnership may consist of one ensemble or multiple collaborating organizations, including organizations from different states.
Cross-state partnerships are welcome. State-premiere designations, where available, will be based on the state in which each performance takes place.
International Commissioning Partners Welcome.
Flexible participation structures may be available based on location, ensemble resources, and opportunities to extend the project’s international reach. Please contact us to discuss possibilities.
Additional U.S. and international ensembles may be invited to participate in an extended consortium as the project grows.
Timeline
2026—2027
Consortium Formation and Development
January 2027
Initial perusal materials available
November 2027
Completed Score Delivered to Consortium Members
March 2028
Planned World Premiere
April—June 2028
Primary Consortium Premiere Season
July—December 2028
Extended Consortium Performance Period
Why The Rising Forest? — Why Now?
Create a Lasting Legacy
Help bring to life a major new choral work addressing climate change, ecological responsibility, and the choices we make for the future.
Give Singers a Story They Can Enter
The work combines a sweeping journey around the circumpolar forest with the intimate story of reindeer, changing winter conditions, and the communities whose lives are intertwined with the land.
Engage Your Community
Build programming, conversation, and educational partnerships around climate, forests, Indigenous and regional knowledge, and environmental stewardship.
Join a National Consortium
Connect your ensemble with choirs across the United States and beyond while becoming one of the first communities to perform the work.